Maryville background check and drug screen, ordered through Universal

What Maryville requires

Both items appear in Maryville's 2026–27 catalog as conditions for starting required clinicals. The criminal background check comes from Maryville's authorized agency, with a signed release to clinical sites. The urine drug screen comes from “the Maryville authorized lab,” in the catalog's words.

Current Ask Maryville articles name the vendor. Maryville's help article on Exxat says background checks and drug screens are done through Universal, ordered inside Exxat, and gives Universal's support address as exxatcs@universalbackground.com. Both items sit in the Compliance module beside your physical, TB test and immunizations; the full list is on clinical compliance.

Maryville's article titled “Why do I have to have a drug screen and background check” adds the reason sites care. Under its contract with a clinical site, Maryville may have to disclose your results to that site.

How ordering works

Maryville's public articles give the outline, not every screen. Detailed instructions arrive with your Exxat access, and the rest sits in the Graduate Nursing Clinical Resource Center, Maryville's student-only SharePoint site.

1. Wait for Exxat accessMaryville puts the opening at roughly 3–4 months out from your first clinical semester, with set-up instructions sent to your Maryville email the semester before.
2. Order through Universal inside ExxatUse the route Exxat shows you, not a package bought somewhere else.
3. Complete what Universal asks forFollow its instructions for the drug screen collection and sign the release the catalog requires.
4. Watch the item's status in ExxatIf an order stalls, write to Universal at exxatcs@universalbackground.com; for a compliance review, Maryville lists approve@exxat.com.
5. Expect a possible second roundA site can ask for a newer check or screen later, covered further down this page.

What the background check has to show

Maryville's article says the check must show no charges, convictions or negative licensure history. That last phrase means your nursing license record is part of the picture, not only criminal history. The license side is on RN license for clinicals.

The signed release in the catalog matters too. Because Maryville may have to share results with a clinical site under its contract, a result isn't only between you and the school.

If something on your record worries you, ask before you order rather than after. Maryville's public pages don't say how older or minor matters are weighed, or whether any can be explained in writing. The Maryville Online Clinical Team, at onlineclinicalteam@maryville.edu, is the right place to ask how a specific item would be handled.

The drug screen: prescriptions, positives and appeals

The drug screen is a urine test, and Maryville's March 2025 article on screening says a positive result can lead to dismissal. Take that as the rule you are working under, not as a remote worst case.

Prescribed medication is handled differently. The same article says a positive for a prescribed drug needs a statement from a physician. If you take anything that could register, arrange that statement before you test instead of chasing it after a flagged result.

You can appeal a result through a Medical Review Officer (MRO), and Maryville says the MRO's decision is final. Maryville's public pages don't list which substances its screen covers or how long you have to complete the collection, so read the order details in Exxat before you go.

When a site wants a newer check or screen

Maryville's check may not be your last one. Maryville's article on site rescreening covers a site that asks for a fresher check or screen: you reorder it in Exxat using “Add New Record”.

Health systems set their own terms. SSM Health's student policy, reviewed May 2026, asks schools to hold a background check within 90 days of program start and a 13-panel drug screen. Mercy's Letter of Good Standing has the school attest to a background check and a post-admission urine drug screen with 7 or more panels. More on how the big systems take NP students is on St. Louis and Kansas City clinical sites.

The catalog also warns that nicotine screening happens at some Missouri hospitals, which can rule out nicotine users at those sites. Ask about screening rules when a site agrees to take you, not in onboarding week.

CastleBranch packages and the cost question

You may find a background check and drug test sold on Maryville's CastleBranch portal, in “Nurse Practitioner (Online)” packages split by Missouri residency. Older Ask Maryville articles say “Exxat / Castlebranch”, while current ones place both items with Universal inside Exxat. Before paying for a package, read CastleBranch at Maryville and confirm with the Online Clinical Team.

On cost, Maryville's public pages say little. A 2023 Maryville webinar said the background check fee depends on your state, and the July 2026 Ask Maryville article on the One Fee says that fee may cover clinical processing, depending on your program. Current figures sit in the Resource Center's fees and expenses section, and a site-requested rescreen is a new order.

What isn't public, and where to check

Several things students ask about aren't on Maryville's public pages. Here is where each answer is most likely to be.

• Which substances Maryville's own screen covers: the Universal order details in Exxat.
• Whether a result expires for Maryville's purposes: the item's status in Exxat, or approve@exxat.com.
• How a particular record item would be judged: the Online Clinical Team.
• Current fees and timelines: the Graduate Nursing Clinical Resource Center.
• Whether a site's own check can stand in for Maryville's: ask the site and the Online Clinical Team, and get both answers in writing.

When you write to anyone about screening, give your course number, the site's name and what Exxat shows for the item. A short, specific question gets a specific answer, and a written reply is something you can point to if the item is questioned later.

Why students start the preceptor search with us now

Screening runs between you, Universal and Maryville, and the smart move is to run the preceptor search alongside it rather than after. That is where we come in. We look for a preceptor and site to match your track and course, and we ask each site early about its own screening rules, such as a newer check or nicotine testing, so nothing new surfaces in onboarding week.

Maryville approves each preceptor, site and agreement; we make sure the site you put in front of it has no screening surprises waiting. If your screening is ordered and your preceptor slot is still empty, send your track, course and start term through the form below.